G&L Comedy

"Sibling rivalry" takes on a whole new meaning in this offbeat comedy from first-time writer and director Sue Kramer. Sam (Tom Cavanagh) and his sister, Gray (Heather Graham), are siblings who share a passionate interest in the music and styles of the 1940s, especially movie musicals of the era, and they've earned a powerful reputation on the ballroom-dancing circuit as gifted hoofers with both talent and flair. Sam and Gray cross paths with Charlie (Bridget Moynahan), an attractive woman who shares their enthusiasm for old movies and retro styles, and is a fine dancer to boot. To the surprise of no one, Sam falls head over heels for Charlie, but so does Gray, which comes as a shock to nearly everyone, including Gray, who has never betrayed an attraction to women before. Charlie, however, naïvely fails to acknowledge the depth of Gray's feelings for her as a romantic triangle forms between Charlie and the siblings. Gray Matters also features supporting performances from Sissy Spacek as an analyst, Molly Shannon as one of Gray's co-workers, and Alan Cumming as a taxi driver. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Screenwriter Don Roos made his directorial debut with this oddball sex comedy. The tale is narrated by 16-year-old Louisiana tramp Dedee Truitt (Christina Ricci), who buries her stepfather and then heads for Indiana to visit her homosexual half-brother Bill (Martin Donovan). Recovering from the AIDS death of longtime companion Tom, schoolteacher Bill has linked up with a new partner, handsome Matt (Ivan Sergei). After Dedee seduces Matt and claims she's pregnant by him, the couple steals $10,000 from Bill's safety deposit box and heads for L.A. Alarmed by Matt's seeming disappearance and hoping to blackmail Bill into disclosing Matt's whereabouts, Bill's former student (also Matt's former beau) Jason (Johnny Galecki) accuses Bill of molestation four years previous, a charge that jeopardizes Bill's job as a schoolteacher. To clear his name, Bill, and Tom's sister Lucia (Lisa Kudrow), leave for L.A. to locate Matt and Dedee. Lucia is a repressed old maid who flinches from even the thought of sex, but even so, weird Sheriff Tippett (Lyle Lovett) takes a fancy to her. Meanwhile, questions are raised about the true father of Dedee's baby, and the film comes to a climax with a shooting, a cross-county chase, and the inevitable showdown between the quirky characters. Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Tommy O'Haver wrote and directed this gay lifestyle comedy about aspiring photographer Billy (Sean P. Hayes) who encounters rocky romantic roads intersecting among an assortment of Los Angelenos -- handsome Fernando (Armando Valdes-Kennedy), who has a steady boyfriend; blond waiter Gabriel (Brad Rowe), who has a San Francisco girlfriend; Billy's roommate Georgiana (Meredith Scott Lynn); and pal Perry (Richard Ganoung). Entranced by Gabriel, Billy takes him on as a model and introduces him at gallery openings and parties, only to see Gabriel leave for better modeling assignments with well-known fashion photographer Rex Webster (Paul Bartel). Fantasy sequences parody Vertigo, '30s musicals, and From Here to Eternity. Shown at 1998 film festivals, including Berlin and Sundance. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Filmmaker Angela Robinson writes and directs the action comedy D.E.B.S., a feature-length adaptation of her award-winning short film produced by a grant from POWER UP (Professional Organization of Women in Entertainment Reaching Up). This 90-minute spy parody involves a secret crime-fighting unit made up of sexy schoolgirls Amy (Sara Foster), Dominique (Devon Aoki), Janet (Jill Ritchie), and Max (Meagan Good). A government agency recruited them for the team based on their standardized test scores, which assumed a propensity for lying and thieving. Their assignment is to take down major villain Lucy Diamond (Jordana Brewster). As it turns out, all she really wants to have an illicit affair with D.E.B.S. leader Amy. Michael Clarke Duncan plays the president of D.E.B.S. Academy. D.E.B.S. was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

The confessional, behind-the-scenes showbiz melodrama goes under the knife -- so to speak -- in this drag comedy. Girls Will Be Girls casts three male performers in the roles of Evie Harris (Jack Plotnick), a has-been starlet of the '70s who has since gone to seed in her decaying Hollywood home; her best friend and domestic servant, Coco (Clinton Leupp); and Varla (Jeffrey Roberson), the daughter of a deceased peer/rival of Evie's who shows up to rent out a room in her home. The tension among the trio of women escalates as Evie prepares for a pull-out-all-the-stops television special commemorating her past career glories, which include sundry disaster movies and TV variety shows. What Evie doesn't know is that the naïve-seeming Varla has a debt to settle for her deceased mom, and will stop at nothing to seek vengeance. All three lead actors developed their characters in stage shows and cabaret acts; writer/director Richard Day wrote for such television shows as Ellen and The Larry Sanders Show before helming this film, his debut. After its 2003 Sundance premiere, Girls Will Be Girls was acquired by IFC Films for a theatrical release. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Brian Shepp directs this comedy about love and hedonism in San Francisco's Castro district. Focusing on the lives of a bunch of ruggedly handsome men, the film depicts a trio of guys who long for domestic bliss. They are, of course, dating men who prefer more casual and varied associations. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

In this gay comedy, filmmaker Wally White assumes the lead role. He frequently pauses throughout the film to address the audience directly. Most of the film chronicles the protagonist Tommie's summer romance. He was in Provincetown on vacation and looking for a little fun. He needs to find a place to stay and a job. He attempts to work as a houseboy but gets few takers. He does however, find lots of casual sex. He is devastated when his favorite dream guy dumps him after a one-night-stand. This does not keep Tommie from wanting to go back and try again next year. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Director Mike Nichols teams up with his former partner/screenwriter Elaine May for the first time in many years and for the first time together in films to create this sophisticated, remake of the phenomenally popular French musical farce La Cage aux Folles that stars Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman and Diane Wiest as two dramatically disparate couples who manage to reconcile their vast differences for the sake of their children who are getting married. Williams plays Armand Goldman, the owner of a popular South Beach drag club known for putting on elaborate showcases starring his long-time lover/wife Albert (Lane) who appears as "Starina." Lately poor flamboyant, flighty Albert has been in crisis over the inexorable onset of middle age. He has been moody, paranoid and unbearably. When he gets too inconsolably distraught, handsome but clumsy houseboy Agador quietly slips Albert "Pirin" tablets (which he explains to Armand are simply Aspirin tablets with the "as" scraped off). Still though Albert can be a royal pain, Armand dearly loves him and the two live happily in their splendiferous apartment above the club. One day Armand's son Val (the result of Armand's single foray into straight sex) comes visiting with joyous news: he has found his dreamgirl and is getting married. The only trouble is, Barbara Keeley's father is the blustery ultra-religious right-wing Senator Keeley (Hackman), the founder of the Coalition for Moral Order. Senator Keeley and his colleagues are not as upright as they seem and when his closest associate is found dead beside a black, underage prostitute, Keeley finds his house surrounded by ravenous newshounds, hungry for dirt. Knowing that they are poised to ruin him, Keeley and his proper but slightly addled-wife (Wiest) decide that a big, elaborate, church wedding will be just the ticket to save his reputation. Barbara has neglected to tell them that Val's parents are gay, preferring to claim that they are members of the South Beach social elite. In a panic, she panics and calls Val who breaks the bad news to Armand and begs him to make the apartment less flamboyant and worst of all to hide Albert (who functioned as Val's mother while the youth grew up) during the visit. Armand is angry, but loving his son, finally, reluctantly agrees, knowing that he will deeply wound his companion. Unfortunately, Albert finds out and as a compromise tries to learn how to be macho so he can pretend to be Val's uncle, he is too much the Great Dame to ever pass as one of the guys and so is banned from the party. Armand then locates Catherine and asks her to masquerade as his wife. She agrees to show up later that evening. Meanwhile their friends busily redecorate the apartment until it looks as if it were done in "Early Inquisition." During the fateful dinner party, Catherine is late and Albert gets uproarious revenge. Achingly comic chaos ensues as Armand tries to hold the increasingly tenuous evening together while outside the newshounds bay and threaten to make even more trouble for Senator Keely. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this gangster farce from first-time writer/director Ky Mo Lab, a pair of Irish pals become embroiled in a murder mystery upon their move to London. When Kenny (Glen Mulhern) arrives in the big city, he's dismayed to find his mate, Byron (Brendan Mackey), on the dole and boozing it up. But he's even more horrified to learn how Byron supplements his dole checks: by working as a rent boy in a gay pub. Despite his trepidation, Kenny soon embarks on a parallel career. But when a rich couple named The Queen (Michael Praed) and Golders Green (Simon Godley) turn up dead, Kenny and Byron think they've found the solution to their financial woes. Rumor has it that Golders Green kept a wad of cash squirreled away in his mattress. Unfortunately, several other colorful low-lives have their eyes on the prize, from The Desperate Dwarf (Raymond Griffiths) to The Iron Lady (Karen Sharman). As the queer corpses continue to pile up, Kenny and Byron wonder whether they'll ever locate the loot -- and whether their newfound occupation has deeper implications. Screened at the Palm Springs Film Festival, Nine Dead Gay Guys marked the feature debut for both Mulhern and Mackey. The character Golders Green is named after the neighborhood where he lives, a historically Jewish area of London. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Taunted by their classmates since grade school and never quite able to escape the culturally suffocating confines of their homogenized Midwestern hometown, a pair of small-town misfits make a break for the big city in this comedy from director Lorene Machado. Celeste (Margaret Cho) is an overweight, Korean, former goth-punk whose best pal since childhood has been queeny African-American Bam Bam (Bruce Daniels). Now in their early thirties and curious to explore the outside world, Celeste and Bam Bam catch wind of a reality television makeover show that's in search of a challenge. Convinced that they are the perfect candidates and encouraged by the show's booking assistant (Alan Cumming) to make the trip, the pair pack up the car and set their sights on New York City. Upon arriving in the Big Apple for their television debut, Celeste and Bam Bam find their moment in the spotlight threatened by a former high school nemesis turned posh salon owner assigned to perform makeover duties on the peculiar pair. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The lesbian buddy road movie Big Dreams in Little Hope stars Emily Burton as Kelly, a woman who strives to become a respected television investigative reporter. She goes on assignment with her camerawoman Linda (Julie Goldman), a woman with as bright and flighty a personality as Kelly is focused and driven. They end up staying together at a youth hostel that aggravates Kelly's already touchy nerves, and soon she is jealous of the time Linda spends with an old lover. Soon they are covering stories at a chili cooking contest. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

This unsettling variation on Thelma and Louise (1991) is an unusual and often macabre love story/black comedy about two peculiar women, played by Amanda Plummer and Saskia Reeves, who roam through Northern England on a killing spree. Plummer is Eunice, a tattooed, schizophrenic free spirit who is wandering in search of her recently departed lover, Judith. She leaves one gas station attendant dead when the person admits to not being Judith. But when she meets Miriam (Reeves), another gas station attendant who longs for love and attention, Eunice doesn't ask the fatal question. Strangely captivated by the eccentric woman, Miriam spends the night with Eunice and falls under her peculiar charm, Calling each other "Eu" and "Mi," they hit the road, where they murder anyone who gets in their way. Both women sense that their actions will ultimately bring about a tragic end, but their dedication to their cause (rebelling against men who trivialize and demean women everywhere) and their love for one another gives them the strength to carry on. Though Plummer's Eunice seems to have the upper hand through most of the film, it is the sacrifice that "Mi" makes for "Eu" that catches and holds the viewer at the conclusion of this bizarre little tale. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Divine was touring as a cabaret singer when director John Waters made this comedy of the grotesque, but he filled the void admirably with the equally rotund Jean Hill and burlesque-queen Liz Renay. The film tells the story of Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole), a mad housewife who kills her husband then goes on the lam with her 300-pound maid Grizelda (Hill). After being sexually accosted by a lewd, cross-dressing cop with gingivitis, the women are directed to Mortville, a shanty-town for fugitive criminals ruled by the evil Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey). Carlotta's daughter, Princess Coo-Coo (Mary Vivian Pearce) wants to renounce the throne and marry a nudist garbageman, so the Queen has him killed and enlists Peggy's aid in infecting the kingdom with rabies. Waters uses a fairy-tale framework to indulge his penchant for nauseating set-pieces, such as a transsexual lesbian (Susan Lowe) having her new penis cut off with scissors and fed to a dog, women being fed live cockroaches, and Peggy being assaulted at a lesbian glory-hole. Massey is hilarious as the Queen, urging her leather-clad bodyguards/sex-toys to "rob my safety-deposit box!," but the oddly-named actor Turkey Joe steals the show in his brief role as a lecherous cop, spouting lines like "I love the feel of cold nylon on my big butt!" and slobbering over Grizelda's huge underpants. The pinnacle of gross-out humor, Desperate Living is Waters' strangest and funniest film. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide